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2 thoughts on “May 13 – 19, 2013 Kaw Valley Almanac”

Thank you so much for doing this. I have learned so much from your almanac. I live in Overland Park, so not quite Kaw Valley, but I figured I could still get away with signing up and hopefully a lot of your information would be relevant to me, and it is!  Just this weekend during a jog on the trails, we noticed “there are a lot of those purple flowers this year, I wonder what those are?” and then today you let us know they are woodland phlox! What a nice surprise, and your blog has been full of so many of them. Never realized turkey vultures aren’t here year round until you mentioned it, have really learned a lot from you and appreciate you sharing your knowledge. Really enjoy your blog, thanks again!

Thanks, Debbie, and yes, the landscapes of OP are very much the same and share the natural goings-on of the lower reaches of the Kaw Valley because even tho where you are is not technically in the same watershed, it’s in the same ecoregion as the environs of Douglas County. Indeed, the Kaw Valley drains all the way out to around Limon Colorado, the entire northern half of Kansas and south of the Platte River valley in Nebraska, so the watershed isn’t exactly the best indicator of a common plant and animal association! I think of ecoregions and watersheds as being like the warp and weft of a fabric where the ecoregion may go one direction and the watershed may go another, binding this place into the fabric of life that covers our beloved planet. Feel free to share any observations you might have along the way, and keep walking the lands!

Ten Years of Wild Douglas County!

Welcome to 10 years of Ken’s book Wild Douglas County. To celebrate, he’ll be sharing special events during the coming year, and you can also buy a signed copy of the book for a celebratory price of $15 + $2 shipping (regular price: $20). Click here to purchase your copy via Paypal.

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Kaw Valley Almanac

Ken Lassman has been keeping this almanac for over a decade, He invites you to share your observations and photos in the comments section. You can find his book Wild Douglas County at The Raven Bookstore and The Community Mercantile in Lawrence.

Just Doing That Moon: March

The Osage’s name, Just Doing That Moon, refers to the tempestuous nature of the weather this time of year that can swing from a late winter blizzard to a hot balmy day, and the accompanying observation that whatever the conditions are, they will soon change. As a result, there are few months that change as much as this month, with early spring flowers and frogs emerging, birdsong transforming the mornings, moths heralding the return of the insect world, maple and elm pollen and flowers bursting on the scene, and a host of other forms of life springing to life.

Some ecologists observe that in this part of the planet, the prevernal time of emergence from winter constitutes a fifth season, easily distinguished from the more pervasive traditional spring that unfurls in April and May, and I’d have to agree. This year, the late winter has pushed the beginning of the prevernal season from February into March; the soils are still abnormally dry from an more arid than usual fall, which could further delay the more traditional spring. Time will tell whether it catches up this month.